This episode I'm joined by Mike "The Birdman" Dodd from This Week in Geek to discuss all about how TTRPGs make us feel. Part of the Game Master's job is to elicit emotions from their players, so we discuss a few ways this can be achieved in your system of choice. Often this will take the form of some classic tropes such as "victory, but at a cost", however it really depends on what you want them to feel at that specific time. Sometimes it's excitement, others is shock or even horror. The tools you use, and when you use them, will have a huge impact on how your players feel. We move on to discussing how a critical component of engaging players is selling "the world", and one easy way to do this is through pop culture and established settings. It's much easier for players to feel immersed in Star Wars or Ghostbusters than it is "My Generic Fantasy Setting A".  Ultimately, emotional response and immersion are correlated, so anything you can do to increase the latter only has a positive effect on the former. Note: This was an accidental duplicate of the original "Emotion" topic back in Season 1. Go check it out for a different perspective! I have no idea how this slipped me by! 03:55 - Eliciting Emotions 23:29 - Emotive Feedback Loop 40:06 - Benefits of Pop Culture in Campaign Setting 53:44 - Portraying Character Emotions Find Mike 'The Birdman' on: This Week In Geek: http://thisweekingeek.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BirdmanDodd Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/birdmandodd Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thisweekingeek/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/birdmandodd Find me on: Website: https://www.thinkingcritically.co.uk Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThinkCritDnD Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinking_critically_dnd/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThinkingCriticallyDnD YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH_BSgazjwyshzo1jazHeaQ References: Terrible Warriors 'Alien The Roleplaying Game' by Free League Publishing 'Lore' episode of Thinking Critically 'Tales from the Loop' by Free League Publishing 'Cyberpunk RED' by R. Talsorian Games 'Stargate RPG' by Wyvern Gaming Intro Music: 'Local Forecast' by Kevin MacLeod Intermission Music: 'Chill' by Kevin MacLeod Outro Music: 'Local Forecast - Elevator' by Kevin MacLeod